“It’s fascinating to trace the trajectories of people destined to meet. Sometimes such encounters happen without any special effort of fate, without elaborate convolutions of plot, following the natural course of events— say, people live in adjacent buildings, or go to the same school; they get to know each other at college or at work. In other cases, something unexpected is called for: train schedules out of whack, a minor misfortune orchestrated on high, like a small fire or a leaky pipe on an upper floor, or a ticket bought from someone else for the last movie show.”
When I discovered the Russians, for almost two years, I barely read anything else. From Gogol to Pasternak, I found myself drawn to these witty, dramatic, insightful writers and their complicated characters and plots. At some point, I even considered learning Russian. The Russians are the masters of the novel. However, not until recently I realized that I had never read a book written by a Russian woman. During the 18th and 19th century, while Russian literature matured, -with some exceptions- women were not encouraged to become writers. After some research, I decided on a more modern book, a post-soviet Russian novel: The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya.
The Big Green Tent tells the story of three boys, Ilya, Sanya and Mikha from childhood to middle-age in the KGB era. While young, they cultivate a passion for art, literature and music that, in adulthood, does not let them submit to the oppressive system of the USSR. The three of them become dissidents in their own way; from simple actions, like the performance of a sonata, to the publication of Samizdat -reproductions by hand of censored and underground texts that were shared from reader to reader. Life drives them apart however, they always share a sense of displease for the system that occasionally, by chance or deliberately, draws them together again.
In line with the Russian tradition, this book is a magnificent novel. It reminisces the Classics, albeit it achieves its greatness in a very different way. Aside from the childhood period -where the friends establish their relationship- and a few short chapters afterwards, Ulitskaya doesn’t focus on the main characters. Instead, she develops the three men through side stories and secondary characters, that slowly but beautifully let the reader understand the decisions made by Ilya, Sanya and Mikha. We understand their characters through their family and mentors, their passions through their wives and lovers, their interests through their friends, their temperament through their sons and daughters and their capacity of empathy through their relationship to those below them. At the same time, Ulitskaya lets us glimpse into the life of bureaucrats, mothers, snitches, scientists, old ladies, trash pickers, idealists and members of the party in a way that we can create a clear mental image of the life in the USSR.
About Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Lyudmila Ulitskaya grew up in Moscow where she studied genetics. She was the first woman to win the Russian Booker Prize. She’s also the recipient of many international prizes like the Austrian State Prize for European Literature and the Park Kyong-ni Prize. She is very critical of Vladimir Putin and his policies.
Other books written by Russian women:
We just recommend books we’ve read
Which book do you recommend? Please let us know in the comment section!
Russian initiatives and projects that support and empower girls and women
Women for Development is regional organization in the Chechen Republic. Their objective is to help women become aware of their rights, deal and recover from domestic violence, provide vocational education and improve their health culture. Most of the women they work with are unemployed, have many children and are widows. They have a center where they provide psychological rehabilitation, legal protection, medical education and professional education. The center is visited by 15 to 20 women every day.
The Map of Fiction by Women 